Home Care In Lyman, UT

LOGAN, Utah — Artic air has been gripping the Beehive State since Monday, as most areas of the state are barely hitting double digits, especially in northern Utah.

Due to the weather, many counties in the area were on a late start, including the school districts, university classes, and many businesses.

“It’s freezing,” laughed Sydney Lyman, a student at Utah State University waiting for the bus. “I can’t feel my toes. I don’t think anybody should be out here.”

Temperatures like these will make you cover up, sometimes in ways you wouldn’t otherwise.

“Yeah, my face is bundled up,” explained Chris Larsen, another USU student waiting for the bus. “I’m wearing a sweater and a jacket. I lost my coat, so I have to kind of wear an extra layer.”

USU classes are on a late start for the second day to spare students and staff from the cold.

“I’m so grateful. A little extra sleep, I think, helped me get on campus and get up the motivation, but it is really cold,” Lyman said.

Even snow shoveling businesses started late as they decided to wait out the negative thirteen degrees Tuesday morning. After all, the snow’s not going anywhere.

“I’ve been in Cancun, Mexico, for the past week actually, so coming home to the snow, I was not excited,” said Kycen Thomas with Three Men & A Shovel Landscaping.

But in the snow-removal business, you don’t always have a choice.

“On Sunday night after the big storm, I had to come here and salt and stuff, and it was negative 21,” Thomas recalled. “It was like midnight. And that was unbearable. It was so cold.”

Because of the intense cold, more people need a warm place to stay, which is perfect for the new William A. Burnard warming center. They said they are seeing a slight increase in the number of people they serve.

A taxi company is also helping out by getting people to and from the center to keep them out of the cold.

But all this cold weather reminds residents not to take the winter weather lightly and to prepare for the worst.

“Make sure you stay bundled up. Make sure you stay warm and only go outside if you have to. It’s not worth it,” Larsen said with a laugh.

The warming center is asking for help with donations and overnight volunteers. They said they don’t have much room for clothing or blankets, so they ask people to donate those items to their partners Deseret Industries or Somebody’s Attic thrift stores.

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SALT LAKE CITY — The United States Postal Service is looking to fill more than 300 open positions across northern Utah.

With the holiday rush looming several weeks away, the USPS is hoping to fill the positions as quickly as possible.

To encourage applicants, a job fair will be held this weekend at the main Salt Lake branch located at 1760 West 2100 South.

The fair runs from 2 P.M.-6 P.M. on Friday, August 26 and 9 A.M.-3 P.M. on Saturday 8/27.

Those interested do not need to bring a resume to apply.

“Bring your curiosity,” said Colin Bollschweiler, an operations support specialist.

He says current employees are working overtime to deal with staffing shortages and ensure packages and letters get to their destinations on time.

"We've got great people right now. They know what it is. They know how it feels to be a customer and they want to give that service to the others," Bollschweiler said. "It's hard on a lot of employees. There is some overtime, but we are getting it out."

Starting pay ranges between $17.32 - $19.62 per hour with benefits like health insurance, paid leave and a pension.

Longtime USPS employee Pita Lyman is encouraging Utahns to apply.

“I have been here 30 years and have been able to provide for my family for the whole time,” Lyman said. “It’s a good feeling to know we are providing a service to the community.”

Interested candidates who are unable to attend the job fair can apply for a job here:

Copyright 2022 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Regarding the report, “Rep. Phil Lyman launches bid for governor, The Times-Independent, Nov. 9: This is a rather odd exchange from Phil, much to dissect, so let’s start from the beginning.

“Collusion between career bureaucrats in Utah’s government agencies and globalists, elitists and environmentalists” – WOW, so to begin with Phil, you are the bureaucrat, the lifetime politician, so in essence you are blaming yourself, the classic “we have seen the enemy and he be us.”

Just who are these mysterious “globalist, elitists and environmentalists?” Please identify them for us. You say you have seen this collusion at the county and legislative level; again while you yourself were in office blaming yourself the bureaucrat!

You then claim you want clean air and water for Utah and somehow think the extractive industry will supply that as opposed to the environmentalists. Strange reasoning. Then you bring up the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance as the bad guy. SUWA lobbies on behalf of their members the same way OHV, extractive industries, etc. lobby on their behalf.

That’s life in politics, Phil. If you want the Big Job you need to realize this – “Gov. Spencer Cox (no relation) has appointed mostly liberal judges.”

I guess any judge that doesn’t agree with your agenda must be a liberal, whatever that actually means. And then the COVID-19 response “was driven by Bill Gates.” Gee, I thought science was involved in that. You sure have a lot of Boogiemen.

Phil, it’s hard to even give an intelligent reply to this nonsense. And now the “Great Salt Lake recovery has been impeded by the Nature Conservancy and National Audubon Society.” Phil, I hate to explain to you why the Great Salt Lake is imperiled, but I will. Since the founding of Great Salt Lake City by the Mormon Church they have been recruiting and paying for new members to come to the valley, putting a huge burden upon the natural resources of the area.

At this point nearly all water from the surrounding mountains is used up before it reaches the lake. Again — you have screwed yourselves. Put the blame where it belongs instead of into ridiculous conspiracy theories. On the state housing crisis “kind of orchestrated,” “need to get away from regulating builders so much.”

In reality the rules here in Utah are very lax, try reading zoning laws in other states for comparison. Next up “Texas Instruments and its 12,000 people” attracted to the valley — again why does the Mormon Church continue to recruit people to come to Utah if there are no houses for them?

Phil, you say you’re (we) the victims of our own greed, probably the only true statement you make in this interview! Then there’s the tired old “unconstitutionally” owned land by the U.S. government. Mr. Lyman, please go back and read what Utah agreed to when they begged said U.S. government to allow them statehood. Stop trying to change history.

And finally to water. You ask “what about the Colorado River? Are water rights already claimed?” Come on, Phil, really, have you never heard of the Colorado River Pact? This statement is so ludicrous I simply can’t get into it. Now let’s deal with Lake Powell. You say, “lake levels are down” (that’s an understatement) then you say “something needs to be done to keep water flowing through Glen Canyon Dam.

Agreed, but what is your solution, give us your plan, hoping and praying won’t fill up the reservoir. Instead of talking like a politician we need a plan, tell us how you are going to fill up Lake Powell, we’re listening.

And finally, “Utah treats parents like domestic terrorists.” Really? Have they been jailed, shot at, beheaded while I wasn’t watching? You then say, “Utah should be more like a state.” Can’t agree more with that, but it won’t happen until the Mormon Church stops running Utah.

Sorry if that hurts but that’s why there is a constitutional mandate separating church from the state. For God’s sake, Phil; have you ever actually read the Constitution? You need to educate yourself if you truly want to run for governor.

You say you “don’t relish the thought of being governor” and I certainly don’t relish the thought of you being governor.

Jeff Cox writes from Moab.

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In eastern Utah’s Uinta Basin, air quality is a complicated issue. Oil and natural gas are key parts of Utah’s economy, but they also create heavy concentrations of wintertime ozone.

On Thursday, Nov. 9, Seth Lyman explored this relationship during a USU Research Landscapes presentation in Salt Lake City.

The good news, Lyman said, is the problem is getting better. Although high ozone is still above federal standards in the basin, researchers have seen a steady decline in high ozone days each winter.

“We’re not done yet, but we’re moving in the right direction thanks to effort by a lot of people in our state,” Lyman, director of Utah State University’s Bingham Research Center, said. “Lots of work has been done since those early days.”

Utah State’s Bingham Research Center was established in 2010 in the basin to monitor ozone and other air quality concerns. It has come to play an important role in researching and reporting on the intersection between air quality and the energy industry.

“The vision for the center at its founding was really to do research to help understand Utah’s energy industry, because the energy industry and the economy of our region are interconnected, and to use that research to keep our area’s economy going,” Lyman said.

Typically, ozone forms in the summer, but the Uinta Basin is one of two locations in the United States where it forms in the winter. Altitude, latitude, snow cover, topography, and emissions from gas and oil production combine to sculpt the rare conditions that create wintertime ozone in the basin.

In the stratosphere, ozone provides an important barrier blocking radiation from the sun, but ozone creates health problems when it exists in high concentrations close to the surface of the Earth. High ozone amounts that conflict with health regulations and standards pose an economic threat to the oil and natural gas industry of the basin.

“If the winter ozone issue makes it too expensive to produce oil and gas in our region, that can be devastating to our area,” Lyman said.

The Uinta Basin is the primary source of oil and natural gas for the state of Utah, producing greater than 80% of the state’s oil and natural gas, which contribute about $15 billion to Utah’s economy each year. Oil and natural gas production is responsible for thousands of jobs in the basin and exists as a cornerstone of the region’s economy.

“When you fill up your car with gasoline or when you turn on the heater in your home and the natural gas furnace turns on, that energy is coming from the Uinta Basin,” Lyman said.

Those interested can view the full presentation on the Office of Research YouTube page.

Research Landscapes is an event series hosted by the Utah State University Office of Research and sponsored by O.C. Tanner. The series connects decision-makers across the Wasatch Front with the researchers exploring Utah’s land, water and air.

Learn more about past events and RSVP for future events at researchlandscapes.usu.edu.

WRITER

Kirsten Reither Research Communications kirsten.reither@usu.edu

CONTACT

Seth Lyman Director and Research Associate Professor USU Uintah Basin Bingham Research Center (435) 722-1740 seth.lyman@usu.edu

TOPICS

Research 840stories Statewide Campuses 303stories Business 146stories Air Quality 51

Two Utah lawmakers have asked legislative attorneys to draft bills seeking to end the “clergy exception” to required child abuse reporting.

Rep. Phil Lyman, R-Blanding, and Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, have each opened bill files to be considered during the Utah Legislature’s 2023 general session. In 2020, Romero introduced HB90, seeking to eliminate the clergy exception in state statute. The bill was numbered and introduced but was held in the House Rules Committee.

The two plan to work cooperatively during the next legislative session, Romero said.

“Most likely, one of us will run the bill. We agreed to support each other because we both want to get rid of the exception,” she said responding to questions by text.

Lyman said in a statement Friday that he was moved to take action in light of “recent news stories have shown example after example of failed systems that should be protecting underage, vulnerable children.”

The Associated Press published a story last week about how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints handled child sexual abuse cases in Arizona and West Virginia. The article focused on the church’s abuse help line, which provides professional legal and clinical advice on abuse cases to Latter-day Saint bishops and branch presidents, laymen who are not professionally trained clergy.

The church released a statement that took issue with the AP story, saying the news outlet “seriously mischaracterized” the purpose of the help line designed to assist local church leaders when members confess that they have perpetrated abuse.

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Lyman said the long-standing clergy exception raises concerns.

“I believe lawmakers, regardless of religious or political affiliation, must revisit this critical state statute to provide much needed clarity in the law. Families and individuals devastated by physical, emotional or sexual abuse should find safety and protection in the law, not loopholes,” Lyman said.

According to the Division of Child and Family Services’ child protective services website, “Utah law requires any person who has reason to believe that a child has been subjected to abuse, neglect, or dependency to immediately notify the nearest office of Child and Family Services, a peace officer, or a law enforcement agency. Abuse, neglect or dependency of a child can be physical, emotional or sexual.”

State statute says that the reporting requirement “does not apply to a member of the clergy, with regard to any confession made to the member of the clergy while functioning in the ministerial capacity of the member of the clergy and without the consent of the individual making the confession, if:

“While I understand and deeply value the confession process, providing an exception for clergy when it comes to reporting abuse creates unnecessary ambiguity for both the clergy member and for the person who is confessing. Worse yet, it can delay intervention for innocent victims. There are too many heartbreaking stories of abuse in Utah and across the nation of help that never came or came too late,” Lyman said.

The Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City declined to comment until the legislation is made public.

In 2020, the Diocese called on Catholics to contact legislators and urge them to oppose HB90, which Jean Hill, the diocese’s Director of Life, Justice and Peace, wrote “forces individuals to choose between the most sacrosanct part of their religious beliefs and imprisonment — the very situation the First Amendment was meant to protect against. We must resist the intrusion of civil authorities into the sacred domain of personal conscience and religious practice.”

Romero said she intends to run a similar bill in 2023 but she and Lyman plan to meet soon to discuss their approach. “I might make some changes once I’ve consulted with experts and other states that have passed similar legislation,” she said.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the proposals.